Baseboard heater



E. C. RIPPLE BASEBOARD HEATER Jung 3, 1969 Filed Feb. 10. 1967 INVENTOR.RIPPLE ATTORNEY.

FIG.4

June 1969 E. c. RIPPLE 3,448,243

BASEBOARD HEATER sheet 2 or2 Filed- Feb. 10, 1967 INVENTOR. ELLIS CRIPPLE ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,448,243 BASEBOARD HEATER Ellis C. Ripple,Syracuse, N.Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Space Conditioning,Inc., Harrisonburg, Va., a corporation of Maryland Filed Feb. 10, 1967,Ser. No. 615,142 Int. Cl. F24h 9/02 US. Cl. 219-366 3 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE Summary of the invention The invention relates tobaseboard room heaters having a finned radiator tube containing a liquidheated by an electrical heater. This type of heater is used extensivelyfor home heating. Many designs of this type of heater have been created,but such designs embody a complicated structural arrangement expensiveto manufacture.

The object of this invention is a baseboard heater embodying a greatlysimplified structural arrangement manufactured at low cost.

Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of abaseboard heater embodying my invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view of the heater with the front cover removed.

FIGURE 3 is a view, similar to FIGURE 2, illustrating the heaterassembled with two radiator tubes.

FIGURE 4 is a view taken on line 44, FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a view taken on line -5-5, FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of one of the end closures.

FIGURE '7 is a perspective view of one of the radiator tube supportingplates.

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged view of the heater with the front cover removedand with the covers for the electrical connections in place.

FIGURE 9 is a lengthwise sectional view through the radiator tube.

Detailed description The main frame piece of the heater is formed fromsheet metal and shaped to provide a vertically disposed back wall 10,the upper and lower edges of which merge with upper and lower forwardlydiverging walls 11, 12. The diverging walls 11, 12, are bent along theirupper and lower edges to form top and bottom walls 13, 14, which extendrearwardly in a direction normal to the rear wall 10. The rear edges ofthe top and bottom walls 13, 14, are bent downwardly and upwardly toform flanges 16, 17, located a short distance rearwardly of the rearwall 10.

An end closure 20 is fixed to each end of the frame piece. The endclosures 20 are in the form of flat plates provided with inwardlyextending upper and lower flanges 21, 22, which are positioned inside ofthe top and bottom walls 13, 14, see FIGURE 5. The end enclosures arealso formed at their rear edges with a flange 23 which is disposedcoplanar with the -flanges 16, 17.

The finned radiator tube 30 is mounted at its ends in supporting plates31, 32. These plates are formed, at their rear edges, with flanges 33aflixed to the back wall 10, as by screws 35 extending through the rearwall 10 and threading into apertures 36 formed in the flanges 33. Thesupporting plates 31 are formed with central apertures 37 to receive theends of the radiator tube 30. The plates 31, 32, are of identical form,with the exception of the direction of the flanges 33 and tabs 40. This,because the plates are made right and left-handed. With the mountingarrangement shown in FIGURE 9, both ends of the radiator tube 30 extendthrough the supporting plates 31, 32, the ends of the tube beingencircled by resilient sleeves 41. The electric heating element 43 is ofthe conventional metal jacketed type. It extends axially of the tube forthe greater portion of the length thereof, and is maintained in axialposition by spiders 45. One end of the tube is closed by a disk 47brazed into the tube and having a threaded aperture to receive a plug 48which, in turn, is apertured and filled with a fusible metal to providefor the release of excessive pressure within the tube. A disk 50 isbrazed to the heater element 43 and to the opposite end of the tube, theheater element extending outwardly from the tube and being provided withterminals 51, 52. The terminal 51 is connected by conductors 53, FIGURE4, to a terminal limit switch 55 mounted on the plate 31. This switchhas a heat sensing element 57 thermally connected to the radiator tube30. The terminal 52 is connected to side 60- of the power supply. Theopposite side 61 of the supply is connected by conductor 63 to theswitch 55.

The terminals 51, 52, are enclosed by a U-shaped barrier 65. Theelectrical connections in switch 55 are enclosed by a cover member 68.The members 65, 68, are mounted on the tab '40 and secured thereo as byscrew 70.

The end closure members 20 and the tube supporting plates 31, 32 areformed with vertically spaced apart projections 72, 73. A sheet metalcover is formed along its upper and lower edges with inwardly bentflanges 77 which engage the projections 72, 73, snap fashion. The upperand lower edges of the cover 75 are disposed in spaced relation from theupper and lower walls 13, 14. This arrangement provides for the movementof air upwardly about the finned heater tube 30.

A strip 80 is secured at its upper edge, as by screws 81, to the lowerportion of the flat back wall 10, see FIG- URES 4 and 5. The strip 80extends downwardly to the bottom wall 14 and forms, in conjunctiontherewith and with the lower diverging wall 12, a triangular shapedraceway for the feed conductors, the inclined wall 12 being formed withan aperture 83 to permit the supply conductors to be brought into theterminal wiring compartment.

The heater unit may be of substantial length in the order of ten ortwelve feet, in which case two of the radiator tubes are mounted in theframe piece and the heater elements 43 are connected to the power supplyat the center of the heater, as illustrated in FIGURE 3.

It will be apparent that the component parts of the heater are alleconomically formed of sheet metal. The end closures 20- and mountingplates 31 are simply blocked and formed from flat stock by punch pressoperation, as also the front cover 75, the barrier 65 and the wiringcompartment cover 68. The main frame piece is formed from a continuousstrip in a roll forming machine. The radiator tube .30 consists only ofa length of straight finned tubing. It is not equipped with any plumbingaccessories, such as valves, expansion chambers, and the like, yet theheater performs equally as well as those presently available andembodying expensive and complicated structural arrangements.

I claim:

1. A baseboard heater unit comprising an integral frame piece formed ofsheet metal bent along horizontal bend lines to define a verticallydisposed planar back wall panel, upper and lower imperforate forwardlydiverging panels extending from the upper and lower edges of said backwall panel and imperforate top and bottom horizontal rearwardlyextending wall panels joined at their forwardmost edges to the upper andlower edge portions of said diverging panels and terminating rearwardlyin vertical flanges extending toward each other and lying in a commonvertical plane spaced rearwardly of said back wall panel; a pair of endclosure sheet metal members fixed to the respective opposite ends ofsaid frame piece and having inwardly projecting top and bottom flangessecured in inwardly lapping relation against the inner surfaces of saidtop and bottom horizontal wall panels and inwardly projecting verticalrear flanges disposed in coplanar relationship with the flanges of saidtop and bottom wall panels, a pair of radiator tube supporting platesaflixed to said rear wall and spaced inwardly from the respective endclosure members, said supporting plates each having a central aperturetherein and extending forwardly from said back wall panel to defineforward edge portions spaced forwardly from the fonwardmost edges ofsaid top and bottom horizontal wall panels, an axially elongated liquidcontaining finned radiator tube having resiliently deformable annularsleeves encircling the opposite end portions thereof supported in theapertures of said supporting plates by engagement of the boundingsurfaces of said apertures in inwardly deforming relation with exteriorsurface portions of said sleeves, an axially elongated metal jacketedelectric heating element extending through the greater portion of thelength of said radiator tube and having terminals protruding beyond oneend of said radiator tube into the space between the adjacent supportingplate and end closure member, a thermal limit switch mounted on saidadjacent supporting plate within said space and having a heat sensingelement thermally connected to said radiator tube contiguous to saidadjacent supporting plate, a cover member secured to said adjacentsupporting plate and extending between the same and the adjacent endclosure member to form an enclosure for said terminals and said thermallimit switch, said enclosure members and said supporting plates havingvertically spaced and oppositely protruding upper and lower roundedprojections at their forward edges and an imperforate front cover memberof sheet metal coextensive in length with said frame piece and havinginturned flanges along its upper and lower edges to be removablyassembled in a snap-latch relation on said rounded projections with theupper and lower edges of said front cover member being disposed inspaced relation to said upper and lower horizontal wall panels of saidframe piece.

'2. A baseboard heater unit as defined in claim 1, including anelongated plate member fixed adjacent its uppermost edge to said backwall panel and extending downwardly into engagement with said bottomhorizontal wall panel defining with the latter and with the lowermost ofsaid forwardly diverging panels a triangular cross section electricalconductor raceway extending lengthwise of the heater unit.

3. A baseboard heater unit as defined in claim 1, including achannel-shaped barrier member within said space having a forwardmostvertical bight portion secured against the inner surface of said covermember to said adjacent supporting plate and having upper and lowerhorizontal channel sides extending rearwardly to said back wall paneland longitudinally of the heater between said adjacent supporting plateand the adjacent end closure member in planes spaced slightly above andbelow said terminals, said channel side members having apertures thereinfor passage of electrical wires therethrough from said terminals.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,651,504 9/ 1953 Gundrum.3,051,816 8/1962 Knoll 2 19-365 3,165,624 1/1965 Cunningham 219--367 X3,179,788 4/1965 Uhlig 219-365 X FOREIGN PATENTS 95,748 3/1960 Norway.

ANTHONY BARTIS, Primary Examiner.

M. C. FLIESLER, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

